Essay - Diversity in Social Work in My Personal Statement, I Described...

Diversity in Social Work

In my personal statement, I described my own upbr*****ging in a rather xenophobic culture and my struggles to overcome these biases not only professionally, but in my ***** life as well. In this essay I will examine more thoroughly how I plan ***** ensure that I remain aware of the potential for *****se previous belief systems to influence my work and exactly how ***** will deal with any of these *****mer cultural biases, should they appear.

First, however, I will briefly explain why I think this is such an important skill to develop in prepar*****g for a social work career. I stated in my prior paper that my upbringing had reinforced Matras's feelings of separateness and, in turn, superiority when confronted with the "other," whether that other was race, culture, language, religion, or a host of other fac*****rs (1984). I believe ***** an awareness of ***** tendency is the first step to confronting and overcoming the bias it inspires; through my own experience, my education, ***** ***** chosen career path in social work I will regularly confront situations in which my personal biases can influence my actions and will be able to ***** aware of ***** potential for bias ***** undue influence on the actions or advice that I choose.

Bias" is a disputed term, and some scholars have even stated ***** assessing it is futile exercise due to *****s myriad interpretations (Longres 1994). Since society is constantly evolving, ***** idea of "normal" is also changing, potentially discriminating against different groups ***** each shift in self-definition. For example, at one point women were ***** looked upon as equals in the Western world; today they share voting and employment rights with males on an equal basis. These *****s in what is culturally acceptable result in the def*****iti***** ***** "bias" being in constant flux.

However, just because the definition ***** evolving does not mean that we *****not set some parameters for self-examination to avoid discriminatory behavior. The Australian Aboriginal experience is one specific ***** of cultural stereotyping that has become less and less acceptable with time; as I stated in my personal *****, during my youth, it ***** perfectly ***** to view ***** Aborigine as below human. This national bias resulted in some *****credibly discriminatory practices- notably, the placement of ***** children into white homes, taken away from *****ir biological parents for no reason other than the race ***** the family (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1999).

***** checkered ***** past with regard to "other" races has inculcated bias ***** discrimination toward not ***** Aborigines, but to ***** racial minority or immigrant group; the White Australia policy that excluded Asians and other non*****s especially contributes ***** this mind*****, even decades after it was officially rescinded by the government (Babakan ***** Gopalkrishnan 2005). Despite ***** fact that Australia has a vast "hist*****y of displacement, disruption, journeys, and resettlement...attitudes toward immigrants reflect confusion, anxiety, skepticism, ambivalence, lack of knowledge, and racism" (ibid, p. 153 and 151).

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